Germany says it will contribute another 1.9 million dollars to the United Nations for a planned trial of Cambodia's surviving Khmer Rouge leaders.

The announcement today (Monday) brings Germany's total pledge to 2.9 million dollars and leaves the United Nations about a million dollars short of the estimated 56 million dollars needed for the trial.

The German embassy in Phnom Penh said in a statement that the pledge "reflects the great political importance Germany attaches to a thorough judicial review of the crimes of the Khmer Rouge."

The radical communist regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975 through 1979 caused the death of about 1.7 million people through starvation, disease, overwork and execution.